Chapter 76

"It is always better to have an understanding with your men. In fact it is going to be necessary for you to talk often to your main helpers.

"This is already the largest camp I have ever been to or even heard of, and if Raalto's camp does join yours it will be even larger by far. You would have a very hard time keeping order in a camp of that size without many helpers," Georgo said, stating the obvious.

"I would like for him to join us though. I think we would all be better off."

"I'm sure you are right. Today will be a bad day to have discussions though," Georgo said.

"It will at that."

The newly mated made their appearances then. Nadlo, Jonoco, and Danlo looked bright and chipper as they sat with Georgo and I. All the girls looked good too as they joined my mates in the kitchen. They were quickly shooed back to the table since my mates plus Kateata and Ladeliea had the cooking well in hand.

Raalto returned then with Reeana and Jareena. Ladeliea brought him more coffee as his mates were served some breakfast. I wanted to talk more with Raalto about the proposed merging of our camps, but didn't feel like bringing it up with everyone else here. He and I drank coffee while the others ate and when Georgo was finished he joined Raalto and me in the practice cave for a little talk.

I should have let Raalto have a look at the practice cave sooner. He was amazed when he saw it and learned what it was for. When I gave him a demonstration with my bow he was excited and I could tell he was dying to try one. When I explained we planned to have a bow and arrows for every member of the camp and intended to teach them all how to use them during the winter he realized at once what an advantage it would be.

I was fairly certain Raalto would be bringing his camp to join us after the archery demonstration. He, Georgo, and I discussed dealing with the other men and we all agreed talking to them about it first would be the best way to proceed. We all agreed again today wasn't the day for it though and then I had an idea.

I got Raalto a bow and some arrows to try and I showed Georgo his locker so he could get his equipment. I gave them both a little instruction to get them started and left them at it.

I went to my cave and sat down at Frank. I asked for a few pitchers of Bloody Marys and when they appeared on the table I sent Geera, Dalia, and Dieta to rouse my main helpers and bring them to the table while I dug around in my medicine stores for some Percodan. I could cure the hangovers, and while I didn't intend to do it every time I was going to do it today so I could talk to them.

My mates were soon back with the grumbling men and their mates. I smiled to myself to see them all wearing their new Wilma outfits and nearly laughed when thinking about Barbo waking later to find Jara sporting new clothes too. He probably wouldn't think anything about it and I guessed it was for the best.

After a Percodan and a couple of bloody Mary's I made sure the men ate breakfast, whether they thought they needed it or not. Only Barago got sick enough to barf and after he'd washed his face I encouraged him to try again, he did and kept it down this time.

They all had a mug of coffee and I told them to go relax in their beds until their heads quit pounding. I went back to the practice cave to check on Georgo and Raalto.

They both surprised me with their progress. They were doing respectably well and I let them keep at it. I got my bow and joined them. I wanted to make it look like I was the one who knew what was going on and I would have to practice to keep up the front.

I had gone through it all before, but it had been a while since I'd done any shooting with a bow and I could see from Raalto's rate of progress I'd be passed by if I didn't put in a little effort.

As I practiced a little thought came wiggling up from my subconscious. It nagged at me, but wouldn't materialize. While I kept shooting and also kept trying to remove the mental fog which seemed to block the subconscious to conscious progress of the idea my accuracy deteriorated.

I wrenched my attention back to the practicing and let the thought take care of itself. At least my aim improved and after thirty more minutes of the exercise I quit and left Georgo and Raalto at it. I went back through my cave and headed for the horse pens.

When I left my cave I was surprised to find only three people outside. The night's celebration had been even more successful than I'd known. Nadlo, Jonoco, and Danlo were out and about now. They were making a start at cleaning up the area, but I noticed they stayed close enough to each other so they could converse while they were at it. No doubt they were going over their night's activities with fond memories.

When they noticed me they stopped what they were doing and approached.

"How was your evening men?" I asked, and got nothing in reply but wide grins.

I asked them to knock off policing the area and come with me to the pens. When we arrived I got one of my lariats from inside the horse cave's now organized tack storage. I saw Argent had supplied a full assortment of tack for all the new horses.

I was slightly surprised to see, along with the harness for the Clydesdales, a complete set of tack for riding them had also been supplied. I smiled at the thought of letting a small rider climb aboard one of the giants for an afternoon gallop. Maybe later.

Grabbing a halter and bridle for Red and asking Danlo to bring Red's McClellan and pad I headed for the pen to see how amenable Red would be to a little ride.

I needn't have bothered with the lariat. I should have known it wouldn't be needed. Since Red had been spending most of his life at stud he probably assumed he was about to do a little fucking anytime a human came for him.

He walked right up to me as soon as he understood I was indeed coming for him. He gave me no trouble while I put the halter on him, but he did seem a little surprised to receive the bridle and bits.